Contemporary and Erotic Romance

Main menu

Tag Archive | Book Excerpt

Here is an excerpt from chapter 1, this is unedited and the version which will be in the final published version may vary. Welcome to the beginning of Cora and Dan’s love story.

Chapter 1

Wednesday, January 9, 2008, Dedham, MA

*alarm clock goes off, Gwen is walking through a spiderweb*

Cora reaches over and slaps the snooze button on her alarm, 9 more minutes, just 9 more minutes. 5:30 comes awfully early, and another restless night makes it seem that much earlier. She floats back into that realm between awake and asleep, her mind drifting back to dreams of climbing up spider webs chasing something.

*alarm goes off, Howie Day is crooning along about the dawn, barely waking, tangled up in each other*

She reaches to slap the snooze again when it dawns on her, today is Wednesday, the second Wednesday of the month, and that means today, she gets to see him. Snoozing is no longer an option, humming along she stretches under the covers, mmmm tangled up with him, a far preferable way to start the morning than getting out of bed on a cold January morning and heading to the gym. Hell, with a full size bed you kind of have to tangle to fit, right? OK, focus Cora, today is the monthly meeting; today she gets to sit across the big boardroom table across from him, Dan, Daniel Santagata. In her entire work schedule, this is the one bright beacon of the month.

She hops out of bed, throws on a sports bra and her workout gear and grabs her gym bag. Then she stops halfway down the hall, it’s THAT Wednesday, the gray slacks and black sweater in the bag to change into after a workout and shower on the way to the office just won’t do. How did she not remember this last night when she was packing the bag?

Opening the closet, she stares at the choices. A suit, far too stuffy, a dress, none of those will do, they are either too casual or WAY to dressy for the office. What says “professional, casual elegance and you know you really want to ask me out, kiss me good night, have some hot sweaty monkey sex and live happily ever after with me”? It is a lot of pressure to put on one outfit, isn’t it? In the end, she settles on a red twinset and a navy wool skirt with a small red pattern, matching red flats and replaces her plain serviceable white cotton bra and panties with a red lace bra and matching underwear and garters with nude stockings. This was it, the outfit, the armor underneath. This was the one that would finally give her the confidence to do something more than smile, nod and say hello at the end of the meeting. Yeah, way too much to ask from clothes.